World Bank Starts Audit To Check Use Of Funds
The World Bank has kicked off a giant audit exercise to cross-check on how India is using aid money.
World Bank teams are fanning out across the country and quizzing senior government officials both at the Centre and the state government level. Says a World Bank official: It is an across-the-board review.
The findings of the review will be turned into a report that will be presented to World Bank President James D Wolfensohn by the end of March.
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Although the World Bank frequently reviews projects in which it has a stake, this is the first time that a sweeping review of this nature has been carried out. We have never allowed them to question us like this, says a senior government official.
During the course of the review, which began two months ago, World Bank teams have held a series of face-to-face meetings with senior Union government officials in key ministries like health, environment and education, which are handling large aided projects.
World Bank teams have also visited key states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra where large loans have been given out. Over the next month, officials will also be conducting reviews in states like Orissa, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The World Bank audit report was set in motion after Wolfensohn's visit to India last October. Technically, the audit is being conducted jointly by the World Bank and the Indian government. The Department of Economic Affairs sits in on the meetings, says a World Bank official.
World Bank officials say the aim of the exercise is to, identify issues and problems. Says an official: We want to talk to implementing agencies and find out what is slowing down things.
Senior government officials say that lending agencies like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the UNDP have been taking a more activist role in monitoring projects ever since the size of their loans began increasing sharply. In Orissa, for example, the World Bank has given more money for health care than the Union government.
For Andhra Pradesh, the World Bank has prepared a state economic memorandum along the lines that it presents annually at the national level.
The state economic memorandum was drawn up after the state government almost went bankrupt and applied for a World Bank loan. The World Bank is now planning to prepare such memoranda for other state governments which have large World Bank aided projects.
Similarly, the UNDP has been drawing up detailed reviews called the Human Development Index (HDI) reports on progress in social sectors.
The first HDI report was presented to the Madhya Pradesh government in December. Human Development Index reports are now being drawn up on seven or eight states.
World Bank officials say there has been a steep rise in aid utilisation this year. Disbursement has risen by almost 40 per cent. One reason for this could be because the Bank is now interacting directly at the state level with the authorities which are implementing projects.